Nagpur: Woman waiting for transplant dies, donates her liver

NAGPUR: A 50-year-old woman from city waiting for a kidney donation died of brain haemorrhage on Sunday. Knowing the importance of organ donation, her family members decided to donate her organs. Finally, her liver was donated to a 35-year-old male patient at a city hospital. Babita Surendra Dongre, a resident of Vishram Nagar, Uppalwadi, had been suffering from kidney failure and was on dialysis. On being advised a kidney transplant, she had completed almost all formalities to register as a kidney recipient with the Zonal Transplant Coordination Center (ZTCC) at Nagpur. Unfortunately, before her name could enter the supra urgent list of the ZTCC, she suffered bleeding in the brain and was declared brain-dead on Sunday. Babita’s husband Surendra Mohan Dongre and her brother Vinod Meshram expressed willingness to donate all possible organs. “Our search for a kidney donor for Babita had been prolonged. She had once said that she may not receive kidneys, and if she dies, we should donate her organs to help people like us waiting for organ transplants,” recalled Surendra Dongre. “As per her wish, we gave written consent to retrieve her organs. Her kidneys were already failed and heart was not medically fit. So, doctors could retrieve only her liver,” said Surendra Dongre. Earlier, Babita was admitted at Dr Mahesh Fulwani’s Shrikrishna Hospital, Dhantoli, for her regular dialysis. On August 17, she suffered brain haemorrhage. Dr Fulwani diagnosed the patient to be brain-dead and called Dr Ravi Wankhede, secretary of ZTCC Nagpur. “I requested ZTCC executive committee member Dr SJ Acharya to examine the patient as her kidneys had failed. Dr Acharya reported that only the liver could be retrieved for transplantation. As Shrikrishna Hospital is not a transplant hospital nor organ retrieval centre, the patient was shifted to New Era Hospital,” informed Dr Ravi Wankhede.

Here, brain-dead committee members at New Era Hospital including neurosurgeon Dr Nilesh Agrawal, neurophysian Dr Parag Moon, intensivist Dr Amol Kokas, anaesthetist Dr Sahil Bansal, and liver team of Dr Rahul Saxena, Dr Sahil Bansal, Dr Sushant Gulhane and assistants retrieved the liver. It was transplanted to a 35-year-old male patient at the same hospital. New Era hospital staff also created an honour corridor to pay respects to the donor. “Babita was on dialysis and wished to have a kidney transplant. As luck would have it, she herself became a liver donor. This was Nagpur Zone’s 40th liver retrieval. She gave a new life to one patient,” said Dr Vibhavari Dani, president of ZTCC Nagpur.